Justice League

There is no Justice.

Otherwise I could see Batman and Superman team up and it wouldn't suck.

I grew up loving Superman. He was my hero. When I was a kid and we first got a VHS player one of our first tapes was Superman 3. I went to the movies with my dad to see Superman 4, it's a terrible movie but I remember my dad being into it. Now I contemplate that he was faking it because I loved Supes so much. If I had a kid would I have had to pretend I enjoyed Justice League? I don't and I didn't.

This movie's Batman is a shitty detective. He can't figure stuff out even with copious notes and digital files. He gives up on finding Cyborg (who glows red and was hiding in his father's well windowed apartment) and asks Wonder Woman to try to find him. She uses the Batcomputer. 

This movie feels like many elements forced together from multiple creative voices. Which it was. 

It's not all bad, there are a few choice moments, but they can all be seen from the comfort of your living room in a few months. The score is good, Danny Elfman is on his game.

I'm disappointed that my low expectations were met.

A Great Success

I had a dinner party! I invited Marc and April over for dinner knowing it would force me to get my place neat & tidy enough to entertain.

We had Japanese Curry with vegetables, rice and pork katsu. It's only my second time making the katsu but they were perfect. I got the curry down to a science, although I've never had this brand before. I have a library of curries from Japan that I've been working my way through since last year.

  I picked up these 3 tarts at Future Bakery in St Lawrence Market. I cut them up and served them for dessert. They were so delicious.

Afterwards we hung out for a bit, then April went home and Marc and I broke into the Trailer Park Boys Whiskey I've been holding onto for a while. We somehow got to working on the 1950's mod to my Back to the Future Lego Delorean and watched all of part 3. By the time the movie finished it was 4 in the morning. It was a great night.

Sam sign on the rise

The Sam the Record Man sign is going up on the city's Public Health building right at Yonge & Dundas square. It should be done in the next few weeks, hopefully. Storm is brewing and they say we get snow tonight.

the bottom part of half of the Sam the Record Man sign without the record.

I used to work at Sams. It was pretty sweet. When it closed and Ryerson University bought the property they lied about respecting the sign and left it out of plans for it's new building. I always hoped the city would do the right thing and find a place for it somewhere prominent.

for now, a subtle sign amongst some bright lights. 

Remembering and thinking forward

One year ago today I was in Nagasaki, Japan. The site of the second atomic bomb explosion. It was the day Trump won the US election. The rain was persistent and suited my mood. I walked the distance from the JR station to the park. I walked around the peace park and contemplated the future. I didn't go to the museum, because there were crowds of school children and I didn't feel like I could handle being around people. I felt so solitary and alone. I was drained by the experience and I wanted to take the train back to Tokyo that evening.

Statue of a woman and her child, Nagasaki Japan

The Women at home prayed for victory as their men departed for the battlefields.But then the blood of countless peoples was shed on the vast continents and the far away islands. Finally,in 1945 as the war escalated,it brought the tragedies of the Okinawa islands followed by the inhuman atomic bomb attacks over Hiroshima on the 6th and Nagasaki on the 9th of August. Ah!On that unforgettable day,in an instantaneous blast of indescribable heat,the bodies of tens of thousands of men and women, mothers and children were hideously torn and burnt to death. After more than forty years,the agony continues even yet.Danger signs of a second nuclear war permeate our very existence.The earth stands at the brink of total oblivion. We must not allow any more war!Nor the use of atomic weapons!Let us guard our precious green earth and preserve all life of every kind. We erect this relief,still hearing the bursting cries on that day of each of those women long silenced in death.Bringing together all the turmoil from the depths of their tortured hearts and minds,we pledge ourselves never to repeat that disaster. The Assembly to Build the Nagasaki Peace Monument the Mothers and Children 

Today was another boring day at work, but when I remembered where I was 1 year ago I got excited about the future and where I will be 1 year from now.

2 lines

Another day at work. Nothing interesting to post about. 

I can't wait till payday. I'm sick of eating Kraft Dinner.

Working

It's monday. I go to work. It's a normal day. I build a box, take product and scan it, then I put it in the box. It's easy.

I'm broke until payday and I needed food. I keep my laundry money in a little super mario coin bank, I shook it out hoping for "real money", it was about 10$. I bought apples and bread and perogies. I can make it till Thursday. 

I'm finishing off the last shot of Japanese whiskey that I brought back last year ago. No special occasion, just can't keep something that good for that long.

dark out early

Work on a sunday is easy as the day seems go by quicker. Today was the end of daylight savings so it was dark when I finished. 

Some project ideas I have for this blog:

-Youtube posts: Showcase some video I have taken.

-100 Christmas trees: I take 100 pictures of 100 different Christmas trees. It's a big city, it should be fun.

-Postcards: revive my postcard blog and send out 5 postcards every week.

I'm going to make these things happen.

three faces

I went to meet my brother Marc and his girlfriend April, they were hosting a mutual friend from Timmins, Travis. It was good to see the guy, it's probably been since high school. He's a good friend of Marc's and crashed at their place while in town on business.

on the walk to Marc's place.

My brother Paul is in town to move out the last of his stuff. We had a really good hug.

King st near Cherry St.

Cool art is graffiti proof

I like to stop and check these faces out when I go past.

Thor: Ragnarok

Yes, it's funny. Very funny. The funniest of any of the MCU movies so far, and of course it is!
Taika Waititi is the director and comedy is this New Zealanders bag. If you haven't seen What We Do In The Shadows, check it out on netflix.

This is the third Thor film, and it's the best of all 3, which doesn't say much, but it's still really great.

Standout performances from Jeff Goldblum as the clueless despot Grandmaster and the director himself as Korg is so damn funny.

I had predicted a cameo by the Guardians of the Galaxy but I was wrong and it didn't happen.

This was an action-comedy closer to Deadpool in its approach (without the hard R, you can take the kids).

trade and save

I wanted to go to a coffee shop and write but I got distracted by my brother in a chat message thread.
See my former roommate and still brother wanted me to pay him for the modem he ordered from our internet provider, even though he hadn't really paid for it. When I pointed out that I had made all the payments for the service and he legit owed me money, he was willing to call it a wash. It was a reminder of how petty he can be and how glad I am he's almost out of my life.

I went to EB Games to see about trading in some games I don't play anymore. I think I did pretty good, I pre-ordered Xenoblade 2 and paid for it outright (90$) as well as an 18$ credit which I will probably use on amiibo eventually.

I got rid of these games.

Granny get Well

I worked a half day so that I could go visit my Granny Mo. She is a great lady and always there for her family. Lately she isn't feeling well. She says she's had a cough since January, damn. We chatted about my work and stuff while she knitted a bear and Seinfeld episodes played marathon-style on mute. We would eventually succumb and turn the volume up on the tv, cause Grandma wanted to know what was happening in "The Contest".

I usually take a picture of my grandma and I together, but she was feeling so crappy I didn't ask. This is a picture of us from August when we had Ramen.

A selfie of me and Gmo from August

I'm off work tomorrow, the plan is to do some cleaning. I would also like to get out of the house and do some writing, maybe take some pictures.

Julien, know your place

Just shy of a year of nothing. No blogging. I don't remember how. If my future clone wanted to know about this gap in his history I would summarize it for him thusly; I had two separate interviews for jobs at Cineplex movie theatres, and after not getting either position I spiralled into months of poverty and self-doubt until I got my shit together and asked for my job back at Sporting Life. On my first day back at my old job I booked a week off, as I was invited to San Francisco to hang out with some friends. After that I worked at Sporting Life for the summer, took 2 weeks to do tiff in September and then went back to the ol Sportin' Life warehouse.

Up until last week I lived with my brother. I has been a trying year. I'm glad I wasn't blogging about it at the time, but I think it's going to be a big part of my writing in the future.

I spoke to my dad on the phone this evening. He lives in Montreal and I keep promising to go out and visit. I used to go more often when I was unemployed with a credit card.

I have a lot of things to do, clean my apartment, find a roommate and then get onto important personal growth.

More tomorrow.